It tapped the void before it caused small ripples to form as the space shrink into itself causing the distant scene of Xing Qing and Dai Lin to appear before the Shadow Lord’s eyes. As he saw Xing Qing’s face the Shadow Lord’s smile grew wider as he spoke, “Oh... this reminds me of old times...”
Buzz! As it finished its words, the space before him started to spin as his figure was swallowed by the space that soon vanished into nothingness.
Phew! Like a beam of dark light, the Shadow Lord instantly surmounted untold distances arrived just before the figures of Dai Lin and Xing Qing vanished into an unknown realm.
The Shadow Lord seeing this felt surprised as he spoke, “Such potential, she’s already capable of pulling another life into the Shadow Realm. Her cultivation is still low, let’s see, peak of Body Training in this world’s standards? Interesting... it’s no wonder you are the destined one...”
Splash-splash-splash-splash!
As the Shadow Lord was lost in his thoughts, the water currents of the pit exploded as the four guardian statues instantly appeared within the pit looking towards the Shadow Lord with unparallel rage.
“You have interfered in the punishment of those two intruders, hence, for your crimes you shall also be sentenced to death!” The statues said in unison as they attributed Xing Qing and Dai Lin’s successful escape to the appearance of the Shadow Lord.
The Shadow Lord seeing these four that flanked him from all corners smiled in an unconcerned manner as he spoke, “Old Trinkets of ‘his’ making I suppose, humph! If I were not concerned about making a ruckus in this realm, I’d have destroyed you all...”
As he said this, his body vanished once more as he entered his own shadow realm. The faces of statues became confused as they could no longer sense the presence of the Shadow Lord.
Not paying the statues any mind the Shadow Lord then carefully inspected the space before him, within moments, a stream of connecting points began to appear before his eyes, these points were strange, looking no different from revolving blackholes. They were scattered across various spaces that were near and far, while only three were currently close to each other.
One was located at the Endless Rain Zone, while two were at the same location no distant that a few meters.
“There you are, it seems you still need work in hiding your shadow space. I’ve found it too easily...” The Shadow Lord said as he reached his finger out touching the blackhole that was a few meters away from him. Soon, his body started to warp once more as he vanished from his shadow realm entering the realm belonging to Xing Qing.
∞ ∞ ∞
Puff! Dai Lin saw a strange space, it was if it existed between two realms, as he was currently stood on-top of a ground surface that was placed on-top of the electrical stream outside of this space. The raging thunders of the gorge could be seen clearly, however, their aura could not be felt as if they were nothing more than images shown in this realm.
“What?! What is this?” Dai Lin asked in shock, he looked around him and saw that Xing Qing was collapsed onto the floor not moving.
“Qing-Qing!” With a shout he rushed forwards towards her and reached his hand out in order to help her up but as he did this there was an unusual change.
Bang! A strange force repelled him away from Xing Qing’s body causing him to collided into a shadowy wall of the space a few meters away.
“Cough! What is this?” After coughing up a mouthful of blood, Dai Lin wiped his mouth with the back of his hand as he looked toward the strange scene before his eyes.
The collapsed Xing Qing began to rise into the air as a dark power enveloped her form, a terrifying aura that seemed to have been sleeping began to rise slowly from her being as it slowly started to seep from the shadow space into the outside world.
The unconscious Xing Qing who now hovered in the air started to fluctuate between a physical form and that of a shadow, as if trying to find its true state currently being confused.
“Qing-Qing! What’s going on wake up?!” Dai Lin yelled once again, but the unconscious Xing Qing seemed to have not heard his statement. Her energies continued to rise and rise. Eventually, it reached a point of saturation that caused her to undergo a strange transformation.
Her braided hair became loose as its color started to change to a dark-violet color as a violet eye shade started to form around her eyes, her lips became dark with a blackish-purple shade as her skin with its previous youthful vibrancy became a bit paler.
After a short while, her closed eyes abruptly opened causing a bright dark purple hue to cover the entirety of this strange space.
Bang! An energy capable of destroying all things emitted from her new being that hovered above the ground as she looked around her with a confused gaze. She lifted her slender but pale palms and looked at it in puzzlement.
“Xing Qing!” The voice of Dai Lin could be heard as he yelled at the top of his voice, the energies from Xing Qing crushing the bones in his body as if it were nothing more than paper.
As Xing Qing heard Dai Lin struggling, her dull purple eyes became filled with life once more, she quickly retracted her energies as her body vanished appeared before Dai Lin in a panic.
“Dai... I... I...” As she saw Dai Lin’s state, she couldn’t help but break down into tears as she didn’t know what was going on, Dai Lin seeing her like this tried to calm her down as he wiped the blood from his mouth.
“Cough... cough... it’s ok. We can figure this out...” Dai Lin said as he tried to speak properly.
“Really?” Xing Qing asked as she looked at Dai Lin, Dai Lin seeing that look reassured her, “Un. You... have... no need to worry...”
Hearing this Xing Qing then reached her hands out and picked him up from the ground before speaking, “Dai, I don’t know what’s happening to me, but I’m sure that we can solve it if we work together...”
The dreadful scene once more changing back into a warm scene, as Xing Qing started to channel her dark energies into Dai Lin’s body helping him to recover slowly.
“Qing-Qing, where is this? How did we get here?” Dai Lin asked in confusion.
Xing Qing quickly replied, “This is my Shadow Space, it is a space were before only I could go. Here, I can avoid getting injured in battles, but for some reason when I was battling Zang Xu I wasn’t able to prevent his attack from reaching here...”
“You said only you, then how can I be here?” Dai Lin asked once more.
“I... I’m not sure...” Xing Qing replied with a confused look on her face.
Dai Lin whose head rested on her lap thought for a moment before speaking, “Maybe it is due to your current transformation.”
Xing Qing haring this went into a daze as she inspected herself with her spiritual sense, as she saw her pale skin, dark purple hair and purple eyes, she couldn’t help but grow uncertain when she saw her new look, “My... my... body is different... I look so cold, so different, so... ugly... Dai... will you hate me now?”
Dai Lin hearing her words quickly acted by using his little energies to move his hand to touching the corner of her cheeks as he replied with a smile, “Cough... don’t worry. I Dai Lin can never hate such a fine beauty even if I were to lose my eyes...”
Xing Qing hearing this felt better in her heart, as the scene became even warmer. However, it was pity that this scene could not last.
“Well, this is unexpected...” A dark voice said.
Xing Qing and Dai Lin hearing this felt stunned as they looked around the space. Soon, a shade-like figure materialized out the darkness, he stood at the corner of Xing Qing’s shadow realm as looked towards two in surprise.
A dark light shone in his eyes as he spoke, “Erm? How can this be? Did the awakening fail? Impossible, why don’t you have your memories?” the Shadow Lord asked as he looked at Xing Qing completely ignoring Dai Lin’s existence.
Dai Lin seeing this barely visible shade and hearing his words felt an extremely dangerous feeling came across his heart,
he couldn’t help but send Xing Qing a mental message, “Qing-Qing! This man is dangerous, don’t say anything...”
Xing Qing hearing Dai Lin’s message replied, “Un...”
As he saw Xing Qing remained silent the Shadow Lord frowned, he then moved his gaze towards Dai Lin as his eyes flickered with a strange light. Soon, the corner of his lips rose into a smile as he spoke, “Ah... and here I thought I’d seen it all. Now we have a successor to that one’s Thunder Punishment Chains, you batch of juniors from this old universe are quite something...”
As he finished his words the Shadow Lord then looked at Xing Qing who remained silent once more and spoke with a dark smile, “Since you refuse to speak, I shall help you...” As he said this, he pointed his finger towards Dai Lin causing his body to rise into the air.
“Shit!” Dai Lin said to himself, as he realized he was big trouble now.
Xing Qing seeing this shouted in compromise, “No! Wait I’ll talk!”
“Tooooo! Late!” As he said this, pinched his fingers causing Dai Lin to feel as if the world was beginning to oppress him.
“Arghhh!” Dai Lin screamed in pain as his right arm was blown to pieces, Xing Qing seeing this felt her heart burst as she yelled while crying, “No stop! Please!”
“Un... good, that’s more like it! Speak, what do you know of yourself?” The Shadow Lord said as he relaxed his fingered causing Dai Lin to fall onto the ground. Xing Qing seeing this rushed forward and grabbed Dai Lin into her embrace.
“I... I don’t know anything, I only know that grandpa found me when I was little, grandpa said I was strange since birth, that I was innately attuned to the shadows...” Xing Qing said in a hurry as if afraid that the shadow will attack Dai Lin one more.
“Oh, this is quite unusual... not even your hereditary visions have surfaced? What’s going on? Why has the prophecy failed? Where are her memories?” As he thought he couldn’t help but scan the body of Xing Qing in detail, seeing all of the expected changes. “Her transformation is true as she looks no different from her former self, but why?”
While he pondered Xing Qing, who was crying didn’t seem to notice, but the dairy that was in her hand had long since vanished as if it was never there from the start. An odd marking from the book could be seen on her hand, but not to mention Xing Qing, even the Shadow Lord himself had no idea that it was anything. He simply marked it off as a strange marking made by the current Xing Qing.
After a while the Shadow Lord concluded, “It’s probably due to that brat, he is the influencer. Therefore, I must take her away from this realm, maybe if she sees our world, she will be able to truly awaken once again...” As he said this, he waved his hand to space beside him.
Bang! The space shook as a black door formed, it was a strange door, one that seemed to have existed since the beginning of time itself. A strange array of obscure runic markings was spread across its surface that glowed in a dark purple light that emitted an unusual presence.
Rumble! The door shook as it opened slowly, revealing a scene that had never before been shown to anyone in this world. It was a scene of a world filled with shadows, with vague amounts of lights that shone from the distant edges of the universe, however, these lights were unreachable only viewable by those who lived in this realm.
If one looked at a single light source, they would see that it was a cluster of a myriad of worlds, belonging to different universes that spread across the vast dimensions of space and time.
The Shadow Lord then looked towards the crying Xing Qing and spoke, “You will follow me to this realm! If you refuse to comply, then I will kill this boy right here and now!”
As he said this, he pointed his finger towards Dai Lin again as his dark eyes glowed in a ruthless light. Xing Qing hearing his words stopped crying, as her red eyes glared at the Shadow Lord for a short moment.
After a while, she rose to her feet and sighed, “Ok, I will follow you...”
The Shadow Lord hearing her compliance smiled as he spoke, “Very good! You have chosen wisely...” After saying this, he changed the direction his finger was pointed moving it to Xing Qing instead as he then curved his finger toward himself.
Swoosh! A strange force pulled Xing Qing away from Dai Lin as she soon quickly appeared beside the Shadow Lord while her eyes started fixedly at the eyes of the struggling Dai Lin.
“Dai... please take care of yourself... and please... don’t forget me...” Xing Qing said, as the Shadow Lord then placed his hand around her neck moving his head closer to her ears as he played with a strand of her hair.
“The world beyond this door is the world where you truly belong, you have no business in the realm of ‘Bright Walkers.’ They are different from us, walkers of the light that can never be reached by us, living beyond us simply because they are born in a realm more superior to ours. It is for this reason... that they must never be allowed to co-exist with us...” A dark look shining in his already devious eyes as he moved his gaze from the sad Xing Qing looking towards the form of Dai Lin.
Xing Qing feeling the hand that was playing with her hair felt disgust, but as she heard his words, her face became filled with fear as she looked at the struggling Dai Lin. She replied, “I... I understand... please don’t kill him...”
Hearing this, the Shadow Lord pursed his lips with smile as he pushed her back slightly causing her to enter the doorway soon after vanishing from this space.
Dai Lin seeing this became angry, angry with himself for being weak, and angry at this unknown enemy who he couldn’t even see clearly that was taking Xing Qing away from him. His voice echoing throughout the room as used every ounce of his power to shout, “I... I... don’t know who you are.... but one day... I will find you... and I will kill you!”
The Shadow Lord hearing Dai Lin’s words smiled as he looked towards the severely injured human before him with disdain, “Humph! You should be grateful you could even keep your life human, for while you are quite a special one to have been given ‘his’ legacy chains. You are at the end of the day... no more, than a mere... human...”
As he said this, he snapped his fingers causing the Xing Qing’s shadow space to crack as it began to break to pieces as he entered the black door which closed by itself and vanished.
Crack Crack! Boom!
The shadow space exploded into many bits of pieces instantly pushing Dai Lin’s injured form back into the real world, where he immediately lost his consciousness as he continued to fall towards the depths of the endless pit, his figure disappearing into the unknown...
Swish-swish-swish!
The figures of the guardians appeared once more as they saw Dai Lin’s falling figure that disappeared into the darkness nodding their heads not bothering to find out why he had reappeared.
“Judgement has been passed...” They said in unison once again as their figure once more vanished into the falling waters that streaked with endless thunders.
∞ ∞ ∞
At the depths of this pit, was a vast lake with no boundaries, colorful thunders danced around this lake as if it was the home to all of the lightning.
The lake was oddly calm with its mirror smooth surface reflecting the streaking thunderbolts that danced on its surface, it was as if nothing could possible cause any ripples to the lake in this realm.
Soon, this lake that had been still for untold years started to ripple, spreading out small streams from an odd shape that had formed at the center of this lake.
Splash! Quickly, the shape became more pronounced as a hand appeared. It was a pale looking hand that held a set of divine-like chains which also popped out of the lake’s surface. The hand gave off the aura of endless might that had melded with the thunder chains, causing all of the origin thunder within the lake to travel towards the hand in huge amounts.
Very soon, the hand started to glow, filling the world of this vast lake with a bright blue hue. As a sound that seemed to shake the heavens with untold determination echoed in this once still
void, “It doesn’t matter where you go, or who blocks our path... I will find you... and we will be together... for our tales... are just beginning...”
Chapter 116
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Radiant Woods, I Am Simply A Shadow?
The night was a gloomy, as the endless rain fell, its mission seeming to be to dampen all moods. The leaves of ancient trees within this forest however, glowed in myriad of resplendent lights causing the drops of rain that trickled down their surfaces to create a colorful scene on the world under their covering.
A now dazzling town filled with colorful lights that lit up in this dark gloomy night, with lanterns made from the strange glowing leaves that came from the brightly shining ancient trees placed on top of the various structures. However, despite its splendor all this remained hidden to the world outside of this strange forest as if one looked across the vast horizon, they would notice the colorful lights that lit up as far as one could see.
The Radiant Woodlands, home to a myriad of ancient races of old.
It was a very strange place, one that despite its brilliant luster that can hide itself from the eyes that seek it whereabouts. They say a quite a few remnants linger here, but that is a fact that remains unknown to even the Zone Commanders up to this very day.
The atmosphere within the town tonight was a lively one as a few days had passed since the arrival of the escape prisoners army and fairies, the locals who knew of the details were ecstatic as they celebrated in an excited fashion for the past few days. The bars were filled with activity and previous lonely and desolate streets were filled with visitors who came from nearby towns with the Radian Woods.
Looking around the town one would see, various indigenous who wandered about with rare smiles on their faces as they discussed with a few straggling members of the prisoner’s army about their escapades.
A few of the prisoners were also taking the opportunity to rest as they knew full well that their battles had yet to be over, looking around the town which had ancient trees that grew around it as well as inside of it towards incredible heights. One could see a few of these escapees resting on top branches.
Dual Sword God Box Set Page 81